TC8 is one of IFIP's most active committees. This book focusses on information systems support for organisations looking particularly at business process reengineering, co-operation between organisations and support for improved work flow in organisations. These are topical subjects and will appeal to both business and research communities.

This book presents a selection of subjects which the authors deem to be important for information systems engineers. The book is intended for introductory teaching. We have tried to write the book in such a way that students with only fragmented knowledge of computers are able to read the book without too many difficulties. Students who have had only an intro ductory course in computer programming should be able to read most of the book. We have tried to achieve simplicity without compromising on depth in our discussions of the various aspects of information systems engineering. So it is our hope that also those who have deeper knowledge in computing may find pleasure in reading parts of the book. The writing of a textbook is a major undertaking for its authors. One is quite often forced to reexamine truisms in the subject area, and must be prepared to reevaluate one's opinions and priorities as one learns more. In particular this is so in new fields, where formalisms have been scarcely used, and where consensus has not yet emerged either on what constitutes the subject area or on how practical problems within the field shall be approached. Contemporary practice in computer applications is confronted with an increasingly complex world, both in a technical sense and in the complexity of problems that are solved by computer."

Computing in the Nordic countries started in late 1940s mainly as an engineering activity to build computing devices to perform mathematical calculations and assist mathematicians and engineers in scientific problem solving. The early computers of the Nordic countries emerged during the 1950s and had names like BARK, BESK, DASK, SMIL, SARA, ESKO, and NUSSE. Each of them became a nucleus in institutes and centres for mathematical computations programmed and used by highly qualified professionals. However, one should not forget the punched-card machine technology at this time that had existed for several decades. In addition, we have a Nordic name, namely Frederik Rosing Bull, contributing to the fundaments of punched card technology and forming the French company Bull. Commercial products such as FACIT EDB and SAAB D20-series computers in Sweden, the Danish GIER computer, the Nokia MIKKO computer in Finland, as well as the computers of Norsk Data in Norway followed the early computers. In many cases, however, companies and institutions did not further develop or exploit Nordic computing hardware, even though it exhibited technical advantages. Consequently, in the 1970s, US computers, primarily from IBM, flooded the Nordic market.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, ER 2001, held in Tokohama, Japan, in November 2001.The 45 revised full papers presented together with three keynote presentations were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 197 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on spatial databases, spatio-temporal databases, XML, information modeling, database design, data integration, data warehouse, UML, conceptual models, systems design, method reengineering and video databases, workflows, web information systems, applications, and software engineering.

TC8 is one of IFIP's most active committees. This book focusses on information systems support for organisations looking particularly at business process reengineering, co-operation between organisations and support for improved work flow in organisations. These are topical subjects and will appeal to both business and research communities.

CAiSE '91, held at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in May 1991, is the third in a series of conferences on advanced information systems engineering. The call for papers for CAiSE '91 was given a wide international distribution. The programme committee was chosen from very well reputed researchers in the international information systems engineering community, as well as key professionals in European industrial and consultant companies. The number and quality of papers submitted was very satisfactory, and 29 papers were selected for publication in this volume.

The Nordic Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE) is an annual international conference for users, developers and researchers of information systems technology and methodology. A distinctive characteristic of the CAiSE conference series is the objective to appeal to advanced practitioners as well as to researchers, and to promote communication between the two groups. In this second CAiSE conference, the program was divided into two types of sessions that were not run in parallel: Technical Paper sessions, with formally reviewed technical papers, and Practice and Experience sessions, with invited speakers and panel discussions. The proceedings include the formally reviewed technical papers and abstracts of the invited presentations. The technical papers present important international (mainly European) work in Information Systems Engineering within such areas as conceptual modelling, prototyping, requirements engineering, design support, software process modelling, tool design, and tool experiences. The abstracts of invited speakers' presentations give an indication of current best industrial practice.